I bought version 1 for iOS when it launched - and found out, that the feature I wanted - the cool ability to type an indented list of topics and get an automatically layed-out diagram was missing from the iOS version (It’s indispensable for the Mac).

I put in a feature request and got the reply

On 11th April 2011:

We’ve an existing request for this in our database; I’ve added your comments to it. Thanks for your suggestion.

Since then I have hardly used Omnigraffle iOS at all. I don’t want to be sat in a meeting laboriously drawing diagrams. I want the ability to tap in topics and and a few minutes later say to the group ‘you mean like this?’ - waving my auto-layed out diagram.

So. Six years later and with the demand to pay £48.99 to keep Omnigraffle working on my iPad - can it do this yet?

The OmniGraffle 3 test builds do have autolayout, though not, as far as I can see, an outline sidebar.

Outline ⇄ diagram is a very good way to shape and share thoughts, and an iPad does seem like a natural instrument for doing that.

At the moment perhaps iThoughts is better optimised for it ? (No formal outline widget, but with an iPad keyboard using tab and return etc it can feel pretty much like an outliner).

Further ahead, the new scriptability of iOS OmniGraffle 3 should allow for some experimentation with outline ⇄ diagram workflows. I personally prefer to think and sketch on a quieter and less widget-crowded (less branding colored) visual slate, so I will experiment with outlining in 1Writer and Drafts, and using their (JS) scriptability to interact with OmniGraffle’s, flipping between outline screens and diagram screens/apps.